Hi Guys,
I am currently on 417 Working Holiday Visa, I am just about to take the plunge and apply/pay for the 820/801 De Facto Visa. I am seeing some contradicting statements around the conditions of the BVA Bridging Visa. My questions are:
1. Once my Working Holiday has expired in September, and my BVA starts – will I have full unrestricted working rights such as the 820 would grant me or will the conditions of the 417 visa transfer i.e. only being able to work with one employer for 6 months at a time?
2. Once you have paid for the visa, do you receive your BVA instantly (even though it does not come into effect until my 417 expires) or is when my current visa ends that I receive this?
Appreciate the thoughts or stories of anyone who has been through a similar situations
Cheers :-)

My partner and I are completing our statements for our De Facto Visa and we started spending almost every night together only a month and a half of dating. Should we specify that this is on our statements? My partner thinks we should say that we started spending almost every night together at a later date than it actually happened and we're unsure what would be best.

My partner and I are doing the application for our De Facto partnership visa (801) and we have been asked a few time when our relationship began but then it also asks what time our committed De Facto relationship began. Would we regard this as the day we considered ourselves an exclusive couple or the day we decided to start living together?

Hey all,
Was just looking for some recent timeline info for applications submitted this year.
I submitted my 820/801 April 27th 2018. Front loaded with police checks included.
Was asked for medical straight away and completed 1st May 2018.
Heard nothing until 12th October 2018 when asked for Aus partner's UK police check which I had coincidentally applied for just in case they wanted that too so I uploaded straight away along with new evidence over the last six months (holidays, lease, bank account statements).
I just wondered if anyone has had experience of how long after they ask for more info that you tend to be granted the 820? I've heard rumblings that they're currently processing a lot of WA visas just now, a few of my friends visas in WA have came through, but I'm trying to not get too excited!
Any time line comparisons would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has shared advice and experiences in the short time I've been posting on the forum.
So pleased to say that my temporary 820 partner visa application was granted, on the 29/05/2018 (My Birthday!) 5 months after I applied on 17/12/2017.
For those who are applying for the same or similar visas, I had a medical April 17th and was not asked to an interview. I would be happy to answer any questions about documents uploaded, forms submitted etc.
It's a massive weight off our minds so thank you to the PomsinOz community!

Hi,
I am de facto on my girlfriend's 457 visa. She is sponsored by her company but hates her job and wants to quit. Meanwhile my company are willing to sponsor me on a 482 visa and she could then become de facto on my visa so she can change jobs without any visa restrictions. I have been working for my company for 10 months.
Does anyone have any experience of that switch? Do my company have to carry out labour market testing (LMT) even though I've been in the role for 10 months already?
Is there anything else we should consider?
Thanks for your help.

Hey Poms!
First post. Just wanted to share my application situation for anyone going through a similar experience. Sorry it's long!
I was originally in Aus on a year working/holiday visa, that turned to two after I realised a year just wasn't long enough! I met my now partner in the first few months of my first year when I was working with him for his family, we started dating seriously after another few months and I fell pregnant at the end of my first year here. My second year was spent saving up for upcoming arrival of bub and the expense of a partner visa (ouch!), while still having and enjoying amazing experiences in FNQ.
I applied for de facto visa in December 2017. I had at this point only uploaded the basics, form 80, my passport and birth certificate, photographs of us together, proof that we had been living together for over a year, our son's birth certificate (born september 2017), proof of joint bank account and joint ownership of a car. I received confirmation of them receiving the application and was approved a bridging visa within a couple of weeks.
I was sent a Request for More Information on 26 Feb 2018, a lot sooner than I was expecting! Immigration wanted;
AFP checks for both of us, I applied online and received these fairly quickly;
UK police check for myself, I applied online and have as of yet not received it in the post;
Partner's/Sponsor's Birth Certificate, He didn't have one but again, applied online and received and uploaded quickly;
Form 888(witness statement), I had one of these and was waiting for the other, Uploaded on signed by JP and haven't been asked for another?!;
Form 40sp, printed and had partner fill it out (reluctantly, he hates paperwork);
Immigration Health Assesment (Medical, chest Xray, HIV test)
I slowly worked through and uploaded most of these, on 07 Feb 2018 I received another Request for More Information asking for the rest of what I hadn't gotten around to yet. I was pretty impressed to be honest as I wasn't expecting this much correspondence, especially this early into the application. I was quoted 17-24 months process time, they seem to be working quite fast.
I am now just waiting on my UK police check and my medical, which is tomorrow! I am currently 4 months pregnant with bub no.2 so was advised by Bupa to choose not to have chest X-ray until after the new tiny human is born. They even suggested that 9/10 times they will not even ask me to go ahead with the X-ray after, which is going to save me a few dollars. Fingers crossed.
That's me and my situation. I will update as soon as I hear back from them after my medical and have uploaded UK police check. I'm looking forward to finding out whether they'll keep processing at the rate of knots they are, or, once I've given them everything they need, they spend the next 19 months ignoring me and leaving me in limbo!
Good luck with all your endeavours!

Hello
My partner and I had our skilled permanent visa (189) granted in December 2016 and have been living & working in Aus since. I was the secondary applicant for this.
If we were to break up, does anybody know if I need to inform the DIBP of the change in relationship status? And what if anything it could mean for my own Visa status??
Thanks

Hello
My partner and I had our skilled permanent visa (189) granted in December 2016 and have been living & working in Aus since. I was the secondary applicant for this.
If we were to break up, does anybody know if I need to inform the DIBP of the change in relationship status? And what if anything it would mean for my own Visa status??
Thanks

Hi everyone,
I have a couple of questions regarding visas that maybe people can shed some light on. I am Australian and my boyfriend is British, we currently live in the UK and are moving to Aus this year.
I’ve read on here about registering the relationship as de-facto… does doing so waive the requirement of 12 months living together? The reason I ask is that my boyfriend and I have only been living together for 3 months so far in the UK. (We’ve been in a relationship for 16 months). During this time I have been transferring him money for half of the mortgage and bills but my name isn’t actually on them. We also both transfer an amount each month to a separate account we call the ‘Fun Fund’ which we use for shared expenses (groceries, restaurants, holidays etc) but it’s only in his name. I do have my own bank/credit card statements with our address on it.
We are planning to move to Australia this year however there will be a few months where we will not be living together. This is due to my UK visa expiring and me having to leave the country and him not being able to leave his job just yet. We will go on holiday together during this time but won’t actually be living together for about 3 months until he can move. Even though we're not apart by choice I’m guessing this doesn’t look good on an application. So what I’m wondering is, when we are living together in Australia, have a joint bank account, insurance etc. and register as de-facto, do we have grounds to apply even without 12 straight months of cohabitation? We are looking at the possibility of him entering on a working holiday visa then applying for the partnership visa shortly after. Is it correct that we could apply at any time and be put on a bridging visa enabling him to work until it’s decided?
We are also looking into the option of him transferring with the company he works for (a large well-known company with offices in Aus). Is there a separate visa to transfer in the same company or would he need to apply for a 457? His qualifications/experience is in marketing, account management, sales and E-retail management.
He is also a rugby referee here in the UK and is hoping to do the same in Aus. Could he work this second weekend job on a 457 or can he only work for the company who has sponsored him?
Thank you!

Hi,
me and my sister are both over 18, and are dependent in a de facto(temporary) visa application for our mom and her partner. We stated that we are still studying as to why we are dependents even if we're over 18. We lodged the application last Dec 2016 and we're still waiting for the approval til now. We're currently in a tourist visa in australia.
My first question is: how likely is it that our visa will get approved? We've been waiting for 6 months now, and we havent heard from them yet.
this end month, our tourist visa will expire and i am planning on going back to our country but my sister and mom are planning on extending for another 3 months.
My next question is: is me going back to our country alone and separated from my mom and sister will affect the decision of the embassy to our application?
please help. Thank you!

Hey guys,
My de facto partner was nominated for 186 visa and yesterday he just received the Approval of Nomination Notification from the IMMI with my name on it.
So my question is do we need to provide relationship statement and relationship statutory declaration like what they do to apply for partner visa?
If yes, do we need to write one statement each?
I and my partner have been and lived together for almost 5 years and have officially registered as de facto partner although we are not same sex partner.
Thanks a lot!

Hi everyone
I am kindly asking for any further advice. My boyfiend is on the last page of the online application and is ready to click on the pay button for his visa. There is still an option to add a family member, could he add me on as de facto (no option there) without jepodising his application? This is his third invite from WA and is worried that he will lose his invite. The first two times he wasn't told about his invites due to using a bad visa company and the third he did independently.
I spoke to a helpful guy at GoMatilda as recommended but there is only so much he can say. He said that you can add/change at any stage even if it doesn't match what was on the EOI as the core requirements are still the same. Issue being, de facto add ons aren't family or are they? As there is evidence that needs to be sent off and nothing is final until they fully grant the visa after payment, he mentioned that they will notice that I have been added, I am presuming they will put the visa application on hold until we have submitted relationship evidence?
My partner only has till the 21st of Feb to pay his visa payment so we really need to think fast and and advice is welcomed!

Good afternoon.
I was granted a 457 visa 3 years ago and my partner obtained the same visa as a de facto.
Last year we broke up and she went back in England.
Now I m about to apply for a 186 visa but I don t know what to do about the previous de facto.
Do I have to inform immigration about the new circumstances before lodging the 186?
If so...what s the vest way to do it?
I appreciate any help . I m lodging the visa without a immigration lawyer and I m worried about falling for silly mistakes like that one.
Thanks and congratulations for the forum.
Matt

Hi there,
I have a few questions with regards to my visa application which I hope will be simple to answer.
I have received an invitation to apply for a visa under the subclass 189.
I am almost ready to send it but I have a few question first. The application is under my name, and my partner is a 'de facto' in this application
1. My partner is French (so am I) and she hasn't taken an English test. I have (IETLS - Proficient), and claimed point for it. My understanding is that I can't even say that she has functional English because she never studied in an English country or taken any sort of test/assessment. She has been working in the UK for the past 4 years though which should demonstrate a functional English.
So Am I right to think that I can't select functional English. And if so, how much of a problem is this ? Could the visa be not granted because of this ? What are our options ? Can she take a test at a later stage if they ask or something like that ?
2. To submit the visa application, I need to pay the whole fee. Roughly $5000AUS.
Should they not grant the visa, do they refund you ? My understanding was that you pay the complete fees only when the visa is granted...
3. I haven't seen anything to upload documents at that stage, such as docs to prove that we have been living together for more than 12 month, and so on. Is this normal ? Do you get asked for the documents at a later stage ?
Many thanks for your help
Arnaud

I have just submitted my EOI on skill select. One of the questions is about relationship status, I am in a relationship but it hasn't been 12 months. Shall I answer De Facto or Never been married?
Also it says do I wish to include a partner on future applications does that mean the immediate application if i am invited to apply or any future partner visas when my relationship is long enough to satisfy the De Facto criteria?
Thanks,

Sorry if this has been asked before but I was wondering how long it took for a CO to be allocated for people applying for the De Factor partner visa onshore?
We applied in July before my working holiday visa ran out and uploaded most of our documents etc. However we only just this week finished uploading everything they need so assuming that we use this week as the start date how long will it take to hear from our CO?
Its taken us a while to get sorted but hoping it won't be too much longer!?!
:arghh:
*edit should be 820/801

Hello,
I'm hoping someone can help with some advice or experience.
I am looking to return in December to the UK for around 1 year with my Australian girlfriend, and then plan to apply Off-Shore for a De Facto Partner Visa for myself (then hoping to return to Australia once the visa is granted).
We have docs confirming we've been living together for 6 months, and have registered our relationship. Is there anything else we need to consider when applying off-shore in the UK, for an Australian Partner Visa?
I've been told the waiting times are around half of that On-Shore in Oz, at around 9 months... do anyone know if this is true?
Thank you all in advance :-)
Tom

Hi everyone,
First of all (this is my first thread and post), I am from Portugal and me and my boyfriend are looking forward to get a skilled permanent visa (subclass 189). My boyfriend is going to be the applicant for the visa and I am going with him, as we are living together for more than 12 months.
This is where I need your help. Our situation is kind of unique, because we work in different towns. I work only during a part of the week, and in the rest of the time we live together in the same house. We have been trying to find a job on the same town but it has been impossible, so far. So, this is how we have been living for the past 2 years.
The house where we live together (unfortunately only during half of the week) is not ours, and it is not our tax residence. The commodities bills are all in landlord's name. However, most of our mail such as mobile phone bills, credit cards, common bank accounts, etc, is received in this address.
Recently we asked our local parish council to certify our de facto relationship, and we have a declaration for that effect.
We would love to get married in the future, but we wish to do it when we have our own house and a stable economical situation. In Australia, we hope.
It is a dream, an important matter for both of us.
Do you think we can prove a de facto relationship with these kind of evidence and will it suffice for the Australian Immigration Services? Would it be better (or easier) to get married now in order to get the visa for both of us?
Thank you so much for your help (I mean not only for this thread but for everything you say in this forum that I've been reading obsessively).

Hello all!
Apologies if there is a better place for this type of post, or a thread already started. I had a look around and couldn't find anything. I just thought I'd share my timeline and experience of applying for (and being granted) the 820 De facto partner visa. While I've been waiting, I've been curious about people's timelines as it seems to vary quite a bit.
First off, I'm American, not Pom, so I'm not sure how that might change things. I applied onshore in Melbourne.
My partner and I met in the UK and dated for about five months before going home to our respective countries. We knew we wanted to stay together, though, so I applied for a work and holiday visa and arrived in Australia on 26 June 2012. I moved in with him and his sister right away, then I applied for the partner visa on 26 June 2013. In my application, I included police checks from the UK and US, but not the AFP check or the medical check (DIAC advised to wait until they requested them).
26 June 2013 Applied for visa (in person, in Melbourne)
early Sept 2013 Applied for BVB to travel overseas (in person, in Melbourne)
13 Sept 2013 Contacted by DIAC: granted BVB, also asked to complete health check
19 Sept 2013 Completed health check
21 Feb 2014 Contacted by DIBP: asked to submit any other documents (in my case, this included the AFP police clearance)
26 Feb 2014 AFP police clearance completed and sent to me; I sent in onward to department shortly after.
7 July 2014 I phoned the Immigration help line hoping for I don't know what. He tells me to wait longer.
11 Aug 2014 Applied for second BVB in person, in Melbourne. The woman tells me they won't process my BVB application for a little while longer. (Travel dates are 5-22 Sept)
15 Aug 2014 Contacted by DIBP: granted BVB, charged $140.
26 Aug 2014 Contacted by DIBP: De factor partner visa granted. WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
So it was exactly 14 months to the day, applying onshore in Melbourne (and they took money from me for a BVB which I now don't need :mad: Small price to pay, I guess!) As you can see, I didn't hear a peep from them between February and August. And you might notice that my medical exam was only a month off expiring, though the woman at the Melbourne office told me this wouldn't be an issue. Also, I was never contacted directly by a human being. All contact from the department was via email, always an impersonal form letter. Other people have talked about chatting with case officers, but I've never been contacted by or given the name of one.
Anyone else have a timeline to post, even if you haven't been awarded yet?
Also, I'm certainly not a migration expert, but if nervous applicants have questions, feel free to PM me and I can tell you more about my experience (what I included, how I organised it, etc.)

Hi there,
I've been looking through the threads but can't find anyone in a similar circumstance, so I'm wondering if anyone has any insights.
Just over two years ago my ex and I applied for a 461 visa (NZ partner visa) from the UK to move to Australia. I'm a NZ citizen and my ex partner is French.
We ended up splitting up before actually moving to Australia, so the visa wasn't used to enter the country. I moved here by myself. I'm now dating a British girl (complicated much!) who's on a 417 working holiday visa. We would be eligible for a de facto visa as we've been together for the requisite amount of time etc, but I'm worried the previous visa might jeopardise our chances.
Does anyone know if there's a stand down period? Are you only allowed one within a given time period?
I'm thinking the fact that the previous visa was never used to enter Australia must count in our favour, and my ex would write something to say she has no intention of coming over if that would help.
Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks

Hi!
So. My fiancé is Australian and I'm English, and in May we'll be applying for our de facto visa. I'd love some advice from anyone who's been through this process, here's a breakdown of our situation.
We met when I was on my 1st year working holiday visa, after I'd completed my regional work. In July 2013 I decided to stay in Aus to be with him and activated my 2nd year visa. May is our 1 year anniversary - so I'm right that we can apply for our visa after this time - according to the 12 month relationship requirement.
Everything was going fine until I called Immigration and the lady said "You have to have lived together for 12 months, not just have been in a relationship 12 months" - is this true?!?! We didn't move in together until August 2013! We have a joint 1 year lease on our 1 bedroom apartment so it's pretty clear it's just the two of us together.
Can anyone help clarify that point first of all!?
Here's the rest of the evidence we've got to go with everything....
- Rent receipts and lease from August 2013
- Joint travel to Thailand and the UK (to meet my family)
- Photos with our mutual friends, photos of us all over and photos of us with each others families
- Joint bank accounts
- Joint savings
- Joint household bills accounts
- 2 x joint party invitations
- We're engaged!? The date is soon to be set and we'll at least have our "save the date" cards to add to our application
- We're registering our relationship with the Births, Deaths and Marriages registry
- We will have our marriage license by the time we apply
- Mutual friends on facebook and instagram
- Linked profiles on facebook and instagram
- Reference letters from our families
..... Along with all the forms we need to fill out, the police checks, the medicals etc, is there anything we're missing?
We really want to do this without going through migration agents etc, so any help on here is greatly appreciated!!!!
Thanks

Hi,
I am currently coming to the end of my 2nd WHV and shall be applying for a defacto visa as my girlfriend is here on a 457.
We have lived together for over 6 months, have a joint lease, joint bank accounts and bills in both our names. The last piece of evidence we need is a letter from her employer, I am just wondering into what detail does this letter have to go? Does it simply have to say that they accept me being a defacto on her 457 visa?
My second question is in regards to the new costing of said defacto visa......I found the immigration website fairly confusing, but from going through the visa costing table I have come to the conclusion that it shall be $1030....does anyone know from recent experience if this is correct? I originally thought it would be $1700, but because I applied (and was granted) for my 2nd WHV outside of Australia I am under the impression I do not have to pay the extra $700 had I applied for my current visa here.
Any info would be greatly appreciated:biggrin:

Hello, I have a 461 visa, my de facto partner is kiwi and is going to the UK for a year or so however I am keen to stay in Aus and we will still be in a relationship.
Am I allowed to continue to live/work in Aus once my de facto partner has left Aus?
And can I leave and come back to Aus without my de facto partner being in Aus on the 461 visa?
From the visa terms, it only says your de facto partner must accompany you on arrival to Australia but doesn't seem to say anything about once you've arrived. Thanks!

Hello all,
I have been in Australia for 7 months on a WHV as my partner and I collect evidence of our relationship. (We have been together for 3.5 yrs, but don't have evidence of the fact that we were living together for 2 yrs as it was in China which meant no bills together, no joint accounts, and relatively informal rental contract.)
So, I plan to apply for a De Facto Spouse Visa in April or May once we have a whole bunch of documentation collected. My understanding is that once I apply for the partner visa I will automatically get a bridging visa.
My questions are:
1) Does anyone know if the bridging visa includes is a 6 month working restriction, similar to the restriction for WHV? (ie only being able to work for the same employer for max 6 months)
2) Does anyone know if I am able to immediately transfer to a bridging visa once I have filed for a partner visa or if I have to wait until my WHV expires? (If there is no working restriction I would like to immediately move to bridging visa as working restriction is tough to work with -- don't want to wait, unemployed, for those extra few months.)
3) Would love to hear about people's experiences on how long the partner visa took to process. Is it much much easier if you are married? (ie do you need less documentation?)
Many many thanks in advance!
Ange